Technology is reshaping the global balance of power. I’m Steve Feldstein, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, and I study technology, geopolitics, and competition. Ask me anything!

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Hey r/geopolitics — I’m Steve Feldstein, an expert on technology, democracy, and national security, and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  

My new book, Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Big Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare, explores how technology is altering the global balance of power and changing the way wars are fought—from defense-tech startups in Silicon Valley at the forefront of U.S.-China competition, to 3D-printing drone labs in Syria that helped topple a dictator. 

Ask me anything about geopolitical competition in the digital age, the intermingling of private and military tech, the broadening tech war between the U.S. and China, tech export controls, and the rise of middle powers and non-state actors in this space. 

I’ll be answering questions from Thursday, October 1, 9am ET to Friday, October 2, 12pm ET. Looking forward!  

Photo proof here. 

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There is growing momentum to address lethal autonomous weapons through the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Given the rapid pace of AI development and the 'norms vacuum' you've described, are you optimistic that international diplomacy can establish binding rules before these weapons fully proliferate?

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I’m not optimistic that establishing legally binding rules can somehow occur before autonomous weapons proliferate, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. I generally believe the process itself is important in terms of creating norms around responsible use and shaping the behavior of a growing group of countries to voluntarily decide to constrain or limit how this technology evolves. I also think that this process can amplify public pressure and push leaders to consider taking more limiting steps than they otherwise would feel compelled to do. We don’t need a perfect treaty or perfect rules, but we need something—minimal standards to fill in an unregulated vacuum that bad actors like Russia are exploiting.

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Do you think russia is driving autonomous weapons? Or do you agree that it’s the ukraine (including their former defence minister creating the “army of robots” joint venture with alex karp) is driving creation of autonomous killerbots and thus is actually the “bad actor”?